


Stealing Time

by felypsa



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Uncanny Avengers
Genre: Angst, F/M, Goodbyes, Love Confessions, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-21 18:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14291127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felypsa/pseuds/felypsa
Summary: **SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS #688** The scene where Emily and Wanda pledge to help Pietro save the world, from Emily's perspective.





	Stealing Time

**Author's Note:**

> I just have a lot of feelings.

“Wanda,” Emily said, striding quickly into the room, “can you sense where Pietro is? He just — _took off — ”_

Wanda spun around to look at her, her eyes wide. “He’s run off _again?_ We don’t have time for this…”

“He was chasing _something,”_ Emily said, wishing she knew more. But Pietro had darted around the room, claiming to see something no one else could see, and though she wanted to believe him…she was worried. He’d hardly gotten a proper rest since he was, according to the reports, frozen and beaten. Even with that fast metabolism of his, he had to be at his limit. But he wouldn’t stop. 

_“Emily! Wanda!”_

He was back! Emily’s heart leaped into her throat. _“Pietro!_ You scared the h — ”

“There’s no time to waste!” he said, glancing from her to Wanda. Emily’s heart thudded. _They were completely out of time…_

“We _know!”_ his sister replied. “The Challenger is on Earth — we have to go — ”

“No, Wanda, listen to me,” he said, approaching her. “There’s a beacon keeping everybody else in stasis, faster than you can see, moving without friction. I chased it across the world, but even I _cannot_ catch it…not on my own.”

Emily inhaled sharply and looked at Wanda; they both knew what he was asking, but was it something she could give? 

“Brother, even if I _could_ use my magic to help, there’s no guarantee you could stop it.” Her eyes were round with worry. “You could end up _frozen_ again, or — ”

 _Don’t say it,_ Emily silently begged. _Not now, please…_

Pietro cut her off. “We’re stretched thin and the world crumbles before our eyes. If this could bring us more allies to turn the tide, we _must_ try!”

“There must be another way…” Wanda was grasping at straws. 

Pietro knew it. They all did. “We don’t have time to search for one.”

And just like that, Wanda gave in — and any hope Emily had of convincing Pietro otherwise was gone. If his own twin sister couldn’t stop him. She gave one last effort, but it was weak. “I don’t know what will happen if you move beyond the limit of your powers…”

“I’ll worry about that. Just make it happen.”

Now she could no longer keep silent. He was trying to take all the emotional burden away from them, but it wouldn’t happen. She stepped up. _“Pietro…”_

He turned away from her. Every time she said his name, he refused to look at her. She thought she understood why, but surely _now,_ when they were out of time, he would at least…look her in the eye. “Emily,” he said, his voice heavy but sharp-edged, _“please_ don’t try to talk me out of this.” 

_Or what?_ she wondered. _Or you’ll stay?_ No, probably not. But he would falter. He was trying to do this, to leave everything behind, and if she asked him not to go…if she asked him to stay and let her take care of him, let them fight this threat some other way…he couldn’t run with a clear conscience. And in that moment, she knew what she had to do.

She had to let him go. She had to let _everything_ go. Even if it broke her. 

“I’m not,” she reassured him quietly. “I just want to _help._ Your mind will try to keep you from going too fast.” It wouldn’t want to let him go into the unknown. As much as Pietro threw himself into the hands of fate, as little as he cared for himself and his well-being, there was still a part of him that wanted more. And that part would hold him back. 

He knew the solution. “Then you must use your powers to help me _break through_ that mental barrier.”

Her next words felt thick in her throat. “Even if it _hurts_ you?”

“Even if it kills me.”

She saw that answer coming. If there was anything Pietro was willing to sacrifice for the cause, it was himself. Why did she have to fall so deeply and utterly in love with the most noble idiot in the entire world? And why, _why_ didn’t she realize that until it was too late? 

They had no more time. But she stepped up close to him, cupping his face, hoping to steal just a few seconds. “I’m…” Words failed her. She cursed herself for being unable to form the words, for always finding herself so tongue-tied, especially now, when it mattered most. “I’m sorry we never — ”

“Don’t apologize,” he said softly, and the look in his eyes told her he understood the words she was trying to say, despite her inadequacy. “Don’t regret.”

He was trying to leave her with as little grief as possible. If only he knew that would make her miss him more. 

She leaned forward, stealing a few more seconds to kiss him…something she should have done a long time ago, before this superhero life ground up all their time and energy and left them with only this, only these stolen seconds, only this one desperate moment of connection.

And then the time was truly gone, and she stepped away, trying to make her heart follow his final words to her as Wanda’s magic surrounded him. She heard them exchange their love for one another, and then, with one single whispered word from his sister, he disappeared.

But he was not gone from her yet. Emily, battling back her emotions, reached out and connected with his mind. It was, as always, a whirlwind frenzy, but she knew it well by now. Dodging the flurry of thoughts, she sought out that one part of his mind that was holding him back. The one part that yearned for another chance, a better life. That one part that feared the unknown.

It thrummed in her heart, and she wanted to keep it to herself forever, a reminder that there was enough selfishness left in him to want something more, something…they maybe could have shared together. 

But she couldn’t. The fate of the very world counted on both of them giving up that gauzy future of what-could-have-been. And so, for the sake of the world, Emily summoned all her power and _shattered_ that fear.

And she felt him run faster and faster and faster, farther away from her…

She felt his thoughts, his final thoughts. He knew she was with him for as long as she could be. _Speed beyond fear. Fighting together. Now…_

They were out of time.

_And…_

But she had stolen as much as she could.

_Forevermore._

Emily’s eyes snapped open. His voice was gone from her head, and for one moment that stretched into eternity, she was truly alone in the silence.

And then she heard it. Wanda’s frail whisper of grief, amplified a thousandfold in her head.

“He’s _gone…”_

Emily wasn’t alone, not in this. She reached out to Wanda’s mind at the same time as she wrapped her arms around her, and though their aching sorrow became an echo chamber in their heads, it was a comfort they both needed. There was no time to mourn. There was still a fight to be won, if Pietro’s sacrifice were to make the difference. There was no time…

Except for these few seconds they could steal.


End file.
